ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2018
The Use of Baclofen as a Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Clinical Practice Perspective.
Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 92 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Potential TMS biomarkers for GABAAlcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Pooled it
- Optimal Dose of Baclofen for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-analysis.CNS drugs · 2025Pooled it
- Baclofen for alcohol use disorder.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Baclofen as a therapeutic option for gastroesophageal reflux disease: A systematic review of clinical trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Comparative efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapies for alcohol withdrawal: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2022Pooled it
- Decoding the bidirectional links between alcohol misuse and aggression: toward a unified translational framework.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Impact of regulatory changes on the use of baclofen in alcohol use disorders between 2014 and 2021, using the French National Health Data System.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Heavy adolescent drinking makes the adult brain more vulnerable to ethanol by permanently altering the age-dependent interplay between alcohol, GIRK channels and activin.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- The impact of anti-craving medication on cue reactivity and abstinence in patients undergoing alcohol detoxification: some preliminary evidence from a retrospective event-related potentials study.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The role of GABAergic receptors in acute, subacute, and withdrawal syndrome on pain and seizure thresholds in mice: A connection to mitochondrial function and oxidative stress in the brain.Toxicology reports · 2025Article
- Acute Intoxication After Baclofen Administration: A Review of the Literature and Methodological Proposals.Toxics · 2025Review
- Unlocking Novel Therapeutic Potential of Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Severe Bradyarrhythmia and Reduced Cardiac Output Due to Oral Baclofen Withdrawal in a 24-Year Old Man: A Case Report.The American journal of case reports · 2025Article
- Alcohol-associated liver disease: Natural history, management and novel targeted therapies.Clinical and molecular hepatology · 2025Review
- Chronic ethanol exposure in mice evokes pre- and postsynaptic deficits in GABAergic transmission in ventral tegmental area GABA neurons.British journal of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Review
- Baclofen in the treatment of alcohol use disorder: tailored doses matter.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2024Review
- Restoring GABAFrontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024Article
- Ethanol-Induced Suppression of G Protein-Gated Inwardly Rectifying KBiological psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
26 authors at 20 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a brain disorder associated with high rates of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Baclofen, a selective gamma-aminobutyric acid-B (GABA-B) receptor agonist, has emerged as a promising drug for AUD. The use of this drug remains controversial, in part due to uncertainty regarding dosing and efficacy, alongside concerns about safety. To date there have been 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the use of baclofen in AUD; three using doses over 100 mg/day. Two additional RCTs have been completed but have not yet been published. Most trials used fixed dosing of 30-80 mg/day. The other approach involved titration until the desired clinical effect was achieved, or unwanted effects emerged. The maintenance dose varies widely from 30 to more than 300 mg/day. Baclofen may be particularly advantageous in those with liver disease, due to its limited hepatic metabolism and safe profile in this population. Patients should be informed that the use of baclofen for AUD is as an "off-label" prescription, that no optimal fixed dose has been established, and that existing clinical evidence on efficacy is inconsistent. Baclofen therapy requires careful medical monitoring due to safety considerations, particularly at higher doses and in those with comorbid physical and/or psychiatric conditions. Baclofen is mostly used in some European countries and Australia, and in particular, for patients who have not benefitted from the currently used and approved medications for AUD.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.